Display cabinet



March 17, 1953 E. F. BJORO ET AL 2,631,916

DISPLAY CABINET Filed Nov. 6, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. fdw'nffijoro March 17, 19

Filed NOV. 6, 1945 53 E. F. BJORO ET AL DISPLAY CABINET 5 Sheets-Sheet 5Ed INVENTOR- V/n Ffijor'o 5/ 10/? M. PM

guy .F/L A March 17, 1953 E. F. BJORO ET AL 2,631,916

DISPLAY CABINET Filed Nov. 6, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 0/ I/ILVZNTOR. 5 wkbro fohfl M F/sber Patented Mar. 17, 1953 DISPLAY CABINET Edvin F. Bjoroand John M. Fisher, Huntington, N. Y., assignors to The Spool CottonCompany, Newark, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application November6, 1945, Serial No. 626,938

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to a display cabinet for relatively smallarticles of merchandise designed to be used where the customers cannotonly see the merchandise but actually take it from the cabinet orreceive it from a sales person stationed near the cabinet. An object ofthe invention is to produce a cabinet of this general type equipped withan upper portion designed to display the merchandise, 2. lower portiondesigned to store a supply of the merchandise and the whole device soconstructed that it is sufliciently attractive so that it makes afitting piece of furniture for the finest kind of a. salesestablishment.

The principles of the invention will be defined in the claim ultimatelyappended hereto. It will be illustrated with the following descriptiontaken in conjunction with the drawings, in which Fig. l is a front view.

Fig. 2 is a side or end view.

Fig. 3 is a section through 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a section through4-4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of a drawer. Fig. 6 is asection through 5-6 of Fig. 5.

7 is a section through 1-1 of Fig. 3. Fig. 8 is a section through 8-3 ofFig. 4.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged view of the upper left hand corner of Fig. 3showing some merchandise in place on the uppermost tray.

Fig. 1D is a section through Ill-4i! of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a plan view of one of the spool trays shown in section in theupper part of Fig. 3.

Fig. 12 is a section through [2-42 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary plan view of one of the trays seen in the upperpart of Fig. 4, and

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of one of the parti tions used in theupper display compartment shown in 4.

Looking at Fig. 1 the display cabinet may be considered as made up offour sections A. B, and D. Section A consists of an end panel a top 2, afront panel 3. On the inside thereof is a shelf 4. The top of thissection may be used for display purposes or for wrapping articles or"merchandise if that is desirable. It may also be used to support a cashregister. The interior of this section can be used to store merchandiseor stationery, paper, boxes or the like.

Section B has a base portion in which are dis posed five drawers and astorage space. This section is made up of two end panels 5 and 5 tiedtogether with horizontalv frame members I. iand 9. The five drawers areshown at H), H. i2. i3- and M. The drawers are designed to slide ontransverse tracks such as that shown at IS in Fig. 3. All the drawers inthe display cabinet run the same in construction so the same identifyingnumbers will be used in designating correspond ing parts. Track I5 isalso shown in Figs. 4, 5, 6, 'l' and 8. Each of the tracks shown at l5,and there is one for each drawer in the cabinet, is equipped with alongitudinal pair of grooves shown at l6 and I? running from one end ofthe track to the other. Each drawer is equipped with a cooperating trackon the bottom thereof such as that shown at 20. This track 20 is groovedalong the middle to receive the complemental track l5 therein. Thedrawers are designed to be withdrawn from either the front or the backof the cabinet and each end of each drawer is equipped with a handle 25.These handles are identical on each drawer so will be given a singlenumeral to designate all of them.

In order to prevent the drawers from being accidentally pulled all theway out from the cabinet suitable stop means is incorporated in thetracks. Each drawer is equipped with a pair of cylindrical plugsprojecting downwardly from the bottom thereof, one near each end and oneinto each oi the grooves 15 and IT. The plug which operates in groove 16is shown in Fig. 5 at 26 and the plug intended to slide along groove I?is shown at 21. There are removable stops or blocks insertable in thegrooves l6 and I1 to block said grooves. One such stop is shown at 28 inFigs. 3, 4 and 7. The stop in question is made up of a disc-like membermounted on a short cylindrical body. A suitable hole is recessed in thetrack l5 in each one of the grooves l6 and I1. In groove is the recessfor the stop 28 is near the front of the cabinet and the recess for stop28' near the rear as shown in Fig. 3. The

recess for the stop 29 in the groove H is near the rear of the cabinetand the recess for the stop 29' near the front as seen in Fig. 5. Thesestops are readily removable. When there is no stop in either groove IEor H the drawer may be fully withdrawn from either the front or the backof the cabinet. If a stop is placed in groove IQ, for instance, near thefront of the cabinet and the plug 26 which slides along groove IE isnear the rear of the drawer as shown in Fig. 5, the drawer may be drawnout from the front of the cabine until the plug 26 engages the stop 23when it can be moved no further. Likewise if a stop 29 is in place ingroove If, for instance, near the rear of the cabinet. plug 21 willengage this stop when the drawer is withdrawn from the rear of thecabinet. By using these removable stops it is possible to arrange theoperation of the drawers so that they may not be completely withdrawnupon the same kind of tracks and are exactly 55 from either the front orthe back or it may be S: arranged that they can be withdrawn from eitherthe front or the back but not both and finally with no stops at all, thedrawer can be completely withdrawn from either front or back.

The drawer portion of sections B and D are equipped with suitable bracesunderneath the center thereof as shown at and 3| (Figs. 3 and 4). Thesebraces are joined to the front piece 8 and the rear piece 8' by means oflongitudinal strips 32 and 33. The juncture of the longitudinal pieces 8and B with the strips 32 and 33 and the braces 30 and 3| makes a solidfoundation for the cabinet.

On top of the drawer containing portion of section B is a displayportion equipped with sliding trays as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. Thisupper portion is designated and is divided into 3 identical compartmentsshown at M, 42 and 43. Only one of these will be described because theother two are just like it. Each compartment consists of triangularshaped side or end pieces 45 and 46. A rear wall 41 is shown in Fig. 3,which wall is relatively high. The top and front of these displaysections are open for the most part. the top of this section is adisplay panel mounted in suitable longitudinal pieces El and 52. Thenames of the articles on display or the name of the manufacturer thereofor any other suitable information may be placed on this panel.

The side walls of this display or trade section 4! are equipped withparallel tray supporting grooves. Those in panel Eli are best shown inFig. 3, the uppermost one 53 is very short,

the next one 54 is somewhat longer and the others 55, 56 and 51 arestill longer and 51 the bottommost groove is the longest. There are acorresponding set of grooves in the panel 45 and each pair ofcorresponding grooves is designed {-1 to receive a display tray whichtrays are shown in Figs. 1 and 3. The uppermost one is shown at 60 andthe next one underneath at El and so on 82 and E3 and the lowermost one64. These trays are designed to slide in the grooves in the side panelslike drawers and may be removed from the back of the display cabinet.Each tray is made up of a front section 85, a back section 55 and twosides 61 and 68 (see Figs. 9 and 11). All the trays are identical exceptthat the uppermost one is the shortest and the lowermost one thelongest. The details of construction of only one tray will be described.The front and back pieces and 65 are equipped with mortised grooves toreceive little tags or signs to indicate articles, prices, materials orother descriptive matter for the articles displayed in the tray.

The trays here shown are equipped to receive spools of thread but ofcourse other articles may be diplayed in the trays. In order toconveniently accommodate the spools and to line them up so that similarspools are in the same row, each tray is equipped with inverted T-shapedthread supporting members 10 and H shown in section in Fig. 10. TheseT-shaped members iii and H are arranged with the horizontal portion 12thereof near the lower part of the tray and the vertical partitionportions 13 extending upwardly. The end of each vertical portion 13 isequipped with a projecting pin 14. These pins are designed to engage ina comb-like positioning member shown at 15. Each tray has two of thesecomb-1ike positioning members, one on the front wall 55 and one However,near the rear of on the rear wall 66. The pins 14 of the T- shapedpartitions are designed to engage in the teeth of this comb-like memberto permit the T-shaped member to be positioned in any desired locationacross the width of the tray. The T-shaped members are first spaced asdesired and then the comb-like members are slid down to engage the pinsand lock all the members in place. Normally these T-shaped partitionsare positioned so that spools of thread of various lengths and diameterscan be conveniently arranged on and between them. Such spools are shownin dotted lines at 76.

Some or all of the drawers may be equipped with partitions such as thoseshown in Figs. 3 and 7. These partitions consist of a series ofrelatively tall partition members running from the front to the rear ofthe drawer. These are shown at 30, BI, 82, 83 and 84 (Fig. '7). Each ofthese is equipped with a series of vertical slots in the lower portionthereof so as to give it the appearance of a coarse comb. Each partitionmember 80, SI, 82, 83 and 34 is like each other in regard to the height,the proportions and the position of the slots. Running crosswise of thedrawer and about half as high as the partition members 80, BI, 82, 83and B4 are partition members 85, 86, 81, 88, B9, and 91 which passthrough the slots in the taller partition members and are disposed atright angles to the taller members. The result is that the drawer isdivided into a series of small square compartments. With this type ofpartition arrangement of course some variations may be made in the sizeand arrangement of the compartments.

The space where a single drawer would normally be positioned has a shelf93 thereon (Fig. 1). Other spaces shown occupied by drawers may besimilarly treated if it is desired to have shelf space under the upperdisplay portion of the cabinets instead of drawers.

Section C is a unit very much like section A. It is shown made up of alower portion 94 and an upper display portion 95. The lower portion isconstructed like section A. The upper portion has the general shape andconfiguration of one of the tray compartments except that it is notequipped to receive trays but is equipped with a front retaining board96. This compartment is designed to receive general items and may or maynot be equipped with partitions.

Section D is very much like section B. It is shown with six drawers I00,HH, I02, 103, H14, H15. These are identical in construction with thedrawers H), II, l2, I3 and i4 and therefore they will not be describedagain. The upper display portion of the section D shown at I06 is madein one large piece designed to rest upon the drawer retaining portion ofthis section D. The general shape of this display section as seen fromthe side is the same as the display section for the spools of thread anddisplay section 95 on the top of section C. This section has partitionsin it as shown in Figs. 4, 12 and 13. Section I05 has two side or endpanels I01 and W8. a back panel 139 and a narrow front panel H3. Thecontainer for the articles to be displayed has a bottom portion Ill andan upper side I12. Over this display portion is the panel M3 forreceiving the names, prices or the like. This is similar to the upperdisplay panel shown in more detail in Fig. 9. The partitions in thisdisplay portion consist of partition members running from the backtoward the front of the display drawers others running lengthwisethereof. Alternate partition members have slots out therein at rightangles to the longitudinal axis thereof. some from the top down abouthalf way and the adjacent one from the bottom up about half way. Thesefront to back partition members are shown at l and H6. The partitionmembers which run across the display box or drawer are shown at H1 andH8 and are the same except one is longer than the other (Fig. 12). Asshown in 14 these transverse partition members have notches or rabbetscut from the ends thereof. As viewed in Fig. 14 it will be seen that thenearer end has the notch or rabbet cut out of the lower portion and thecorresponding notch or rabbet from the upper portion of the far end ofthe partition. This permits these partitions to cooperate with thelongitudinal partitions wherein the notches are arranged alternately onthe lower portion or the upper portion of adjacent partitions. Thisarrangement of the partitions provides considerable flexibility inregard to size and location of the compartments and of course all thepartitions may be readily removed if it is desirable to show largearticles.

The drawers in compartment D are furnished with a slightly differentform of partition than those in compartment B. In compartment D thepartitions running from the front to the back of each drawer are abouthalf as high as the drawers are deep. They are shown at 120 (Fig. 4).The transverse partitions are shown at I2I. The partitions I of whichthere are only two shown (see Fig. 8) are equipped with notches on thetop thereof which go down about half way. The transverse crosswisepartitions I21 are equipped with notches on the lower portions thereof.Both partitions are of the same height and they cooperate to divide thedrawer up into sections such as squares or rectangles.

The device described is capable of considerable manipulation first,because it is made up of four different sections which may be separatedand set up independently. The drawers may be all used, or some used, ornone used. The open display boxes on the top of the device may bereadily removed leaving a flat top which can be converted into a tableor counter. Because the drawers are movable toward the front or back ofthe cabinet they are convenient for use by a sales person who might findhimself or herself on either side of the cabinet when in need ofsomething inside the drawers.

In the light of the foregoing description the following is claimed:

In a display cabinet of the character described, a display sectioncomprising a pair of end panels, a back panel and bottom and having anopen top and an open front, a set of spaced grooves in 6 each end panelsloping downwardly from the back of the section to the front, thegrooves in one end panel being alined with the grooves in the other endpanel to form pairs of alined grooves, openings in the back panelextending from end to end thereof each of which is alined with a pair ofalined end panel grooves, a tray disposed in and between each pair ofalined grooves and movable through the corresponding opening in the backpanel, said trays being spaced one above each other and each beingshorter than the one beneath it, each tray having means on its forwardside for receiving identifying indicia, a plurality of tracks in eachtray for supporting thread spools and like articles thereon, each trackextending from the back to the front of the tray and being movablewidthwise thereof, pins in the ends of each track, a transversecomb-like member disposed at the front and back of each tray forengaging the pins to retain said track in position on the tray, anoverhang extending over the rear portion of the display section, andmeans on the overhang for receiving identifying matter characterizingthe articles in said trays.

EDVIN F. BJORO. JOHN M. FISHER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 107,753 Belding Sept. 27, 1870112,272 Norris Feb. 28, 1871 375,980 Baum Jan. 3, 1888 608,130 KandleJuly 26, 1898 1,010,453 Probert Dec. 5, 1911 1,311,042 Carlson July 22,1919 1,633,345 Morris June 21, 1927 1,653,530 Abrachinsky Dec. 20, 19271,672,633 Vogel June 5, 1928 1,711,329 Short -1 Apr. 30, 1929 1,739,730Orthwine Dec. 17, 1929 1,745,784 Davis Feb. 4, 1930 1,924,371 Owitz Aug.29, 1933 1,928,512 Swift Sept. 26, 1933 2,014,516 Beddingfield Sept. 17,1935 2,225,655 Ottenheimer Dec. 24, 1940 2,228,775 Morgan Jan. 14, 19412,257,822 Stickley Oct. 7, 1941 2,262,104 Lambrecht Nov. 11, 19412,268,637 Bernstein Jan. 6, 1942 2,299,347 Rifkin Oct. 20, 1942 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 140,378 Switzerland Aug. 16, 1930

